A quick tale of fun and games in the Kruger. Well, I ended up in Skukuza the passed weekend … now there is some good in this, just being in the Kruger, the bad, that everyone else was there as well, Skukuza has not seen me for many a moons… I entered at Phabeni late Friday afternoon 4pm. Saw some Ellies, Rhino and all the usual suspects. Great drive to the camp. Had the fire going at 6pm, off to bed early, for the early rise. This is where the fun started. Obviously in the early days of building Skukuza, privacy and noise was not a problem, as I suppose all piepols were off to bed early. We were fortunate enough to have a group of very Afrikaans speaking family occupying the three chalets behind us. Listening to the odd Hyena that I could here beyond the noise and swearing, I eventually decided if the lights were out in our chalet, they would maybe get the message. Alas, no go. They were off to bed well after ten, just to arise before 5am, and waking the whole camp, screaming, packing, talking and whatever. I got up, and left feeling murderous towards the neighbors…

Had a great drive to Tshokwane. Saw lovely kudu’s, giraffe, waterbuck, ellies buffs, and lion couple on honeymoon, fish eagle, vultures etc…. Beauties! Looked for the leopard in the tree, which I saw about three weeks ago, but clearly animals in the park are not kept stationary, (contrary to what some piepols think)… not even if it had a kill in the tree… For all of you who dread the cues at LS, and the poor service of the Cafeteria, I can strongly recommend the Boerewors Pap and Sheba, at Tshokwane, not even a 5min wait and the food was great.

I left for LS at 9:30. Loads of movement, I probably saw all the Kudu’s in the Park, all the zebra’s, giraffes and a good part of the elephant herds as well. Rhino’s again, but all in all a great drive. On my way to LS, I was told of a Leopard sighting….. Now as a rule I do not follow, but being early and having time on my side, I thought I could “pop” in…..

5km passed LS on the Croc Bridge Road, in a tree, about 8meters from the road… but was it fun here… got stuck in traffic for nearly an hour, and this is where my fun continued… Piepols hooting, swearing, shouting, I counted 12 “great nature lovers” out of there windows… one even walking between the vehicles… Traveling in a 2x2, alas a flat vehicle, I had the best spot, next to the Spotted One up in the tree, getting high on diesel fumes. I could not move, as we had one of these “great nature lovers” who stopped dead in front of the whole cue trying to eye the Spotted One from a sitting in his window position. Just swearing and telling us all that it’s now his time there…. Coming from the front, we had another “great nature lover” screaming from his sitting position on his window, holding up all oncoming traffic… I could only think what The Great Spotted One was thinking during all of this…praying silently that he leaves the tree and disappear into the bush. I think the Piepols visiting any Park must write a test, as this was so completely shameless, selfish behavior of a few “great nature lovers”… Rules do not apply to “Great Nature Lovers!”.

Eventually, after sharing my water with the car next to me, I got out of there…. Got my Pie, and cold Millers and off to Sunset dam… I got to park under that little bush to the left, close to the dam. Having fun in the shade, watching a croc eating another dead croc, (don’t know why the one was dead), hippo’s getting real upset with the carnivorous croc, generally enjoying the dam. Now the Piepols are joining me in this tight corner, asking what I am seeing, I explain and so the crowds came. One Piepol, “great nature lover” in 4x4 drives past and stops, looks out the window and asks.. “Am I in your way?” My response, “what do you think?” So I just left….

Now I am on the Highway to Skukuza…. This road is a killer if the Piepols take over…. But driving at 30km/hour, everyone passes…. Saw some lovely buffs and ellies… and the usual suspects yet again… I was in time to make it back to Skukuza, so I decided to do the gravel road from the bridge to LS… just for about 15km…. did that, saw my friend the hyena, and turned around. On the bridge, a sighting of yet another Honeymoon couple, but they were lying down in the reeds, and not visible. I decided to sit and wait… It paid off…. She came straight towards me, I reversed so that they could pass in front of my car…. Alas, one “Great Nature Lover” came rushing passed, stopped her in her tracks, she turned around and passed next to my 2x2, open window and all, I nearly had a major accident in my car, ended up on the passenger seat… there was NO time to close the window… Piepols in 4x4 kept blocking her from crossing… idiot! Then the Male came up, both have TB, but still magnificent animals… At this stage I was all jitters, one for the open window, and two, angry for Piepol thinking he is great by blocking the road….

Off to the city in the jungle Skukuza… Had fire going, and it was quiet in the camp… just the shouting for the Boks, and as if answering the call, the Hyena’s. Got to bed early, and rested in peace… Just to wake-up to the most hellish days of my life in Kruger….

Being single with no kids, I do tend to forget about “holidays”… The early morning drive was fine…. But all hell broke loose after 7:30am… the Piepols entered in mass at all the gates… By 9am there was on average ten cars in front of me, and ten coming from the front… it was hectic… Talking to these Piepols, it was clearly they kept on coming in till after 11am… Is there any quota system still going in the Kruger? Maybe someone will be able to tell me… At every single sighting, impala, kudu, warthog, buff, ellies, lion, etc, major traffic jams… its ridiculous! Got to a leopard sighting just after it was spotted, looked, was very happy this boy is not going to have diesel fumes to cope with as it was far away from the road, but in that five minutes, if so many, 20 vehicles…. And of course, all “great nature lovers” out of there windows… I left as quickly as possible… Feeling all murderous inside for the second time in one weekend, I nearly lost it on a turn in the road with the Frenchman standing in the road, out of the vehicle, happy family with open kombi door in tow… I explain to them in clear English what I thought of this and promptly asked if they read the info on the permit…. Even asked to see it, and showed them where to read!

After this, I left for the city of Skukuza, packed my bags, left the chalet, and left the Kruger for my own veranda in town, even though I could still sleep for the night. I was not willing to spend another night in Skukuza, with all these Piepols…

Anyway, got home safely, after struggling to get home through the mass…..parking all over the road, no consideration for anything or anyone… It’s Me, I am a Great Nature Lover, and therefore I am allowed to break all the rules…. All in all, the Kruger will stay great, and wonderful and bring peace to my soul…. I just tend to wonder how long it will stay this way, with all these idiots roaming about…..

Till next time… safe travels, and teach your family and friends to have respect for Mother Nature…

TA-TAZorro

PS: Piepols = people (Stole the word from Blouwillem)

Last edited by Zorro on Tue Aug 11, 2009 4:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.